1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a connection apparatus for a parallel optical interconnect module and a parallel optical interconnect module that an optical signal is transmitted or received through an optical fiber, and more particularly, to a connection apparatus for a parallel optical interconnect module and a parallel optical interconnect module, comprising a 2D reflector with a prism reflecting surface having at least two rows of cylinder type lenses so as to reduce a coupling loss generated from a misalignment when coupled with optical fiber, a 2D optical waveguide having at least two layers of core array, at least two rows of 2D silicon optical benches to reduce a coupling loss generated from a misalignment when coupled with optical fiber, a 2D ferrule for loading at least two layers of optical fibers to facilitate the fixing of the 2D optical waveguide for optical coupling.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally known in the art, in low-speed telecommunication system and so on, a connection between circuit boards, chips or systems is conducted through an electric metal cable. However, with the high-capacity and the increase of transfer rate of information such as in an advanced telecommunication system constituted with a high-capacity parallel computer or a 1 or more Tb/s class asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switching system and so on, if used such metal cable, there is caused an electrical problem such as skewing or electromagnetic interference (EMI) and so on, thereby reducing operational efficiency of the system and making the integration of system difficult.
Recently, a technology of optical connection using an optical transceiving module has thus been developed wherein as a method for optical connection in the optical transceiving module, a direct coupling type of an optical receiving device to a ribbon optical fiber multi-channel optical connector with 45° tilt-angled reflector, a coupling type of a polymer optical waveguide having 45° tilt-angled reflector and to which an optical transceiving device is coupled, to a multi-channel optical connector, a coupling type of a polymer optical waveguide to which an optical transceiving device is vertically coupled, to a multi-channel optical connector, a vertical coupling type of an optical transceiving device fixed to a plastic package to a multi-channel optical connector and so on are used. Herein, as an optical transmission device, i.e., a light source, Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) Array is employed, and as an optical receiving device, i.e., a photodetector, a Photo Diode (PD) Array is employed.
Korean Patent Application No. 2000-7003642 (filing date: 2000 Apr. 4) entitled “Optical Module” is constructed such that light oscillated through a light exit is reflected at a 90° angle by an optical waveguide and is then transmitted to an optical fiber connected with an optical connector along a core formed to a substrate.
“ParaBIT-1: 60-Gb/s-Throughput Parallel Optical Interconnect Module” announced at ECTC 2000 on May, 2000 by N. Usui is constructed such that a 24-channel polymer waveguide film with a planar reflector tilted at a 45 degrees angle and a 24-optical fiber BF connector are connected with each other wherein the optical waveguide film and the connector are manually assembled.
Among the technologies introduced above, it is evaluated that the coupling type of the polymer optical waveguide having 45° tilt-angled reflector and to which the optical transceiving device is coupled, to the multi-channel optical connector is a most effective method in that the reflector being relatively easily formed, and an optical coupler, an optical switch, Wavelength Division Multiflexing (WDM) device, and so on are built in the polymer optical waveguide to achieve functional extension of the whole module.
However, when used such technology for optical coupling in order to manufacture an optical transceiving module for parallel optical interconnect having a subsequent extended function, although a misalignment is generated a little bit upon coupling the optical transceiving device with the optical fiber, a large coupling loss is caused so that satisfactory efficiency cannot be achieved. It is thus true that a structural improvement of the optical transceiving module for parallel optical interconnect is required in order to minimize the coupling loss.